Stephen Colbert couldn’t help but revel in South Park‘s mockery of Donald Trump in the show’s season 27 premiere, including that satirical pro-Trump PSA that featured an AI version of the president traversing the desert in the nude.
Colbert made sure to broadcast the PSA far and wide in his Late Show monologue on Thursday, after noting that Trump signed a series of executive orders targeting “woke” AI regulation.” One of which stated that the federal government shouldn’t play a role in regulating AI models in the private marketplace.
“And I completely agree with this one,” Colbert said. “Because if the government interfered with private AI, innovators at South Park wouldn’t be able to make important videos like this one.”
Cue the clip of the PSA featured in Wednesday’s explosive season premiere. While a scene with Trump hopping into bed with Satan and begging for sex has been the most buzzed about aspect of the premiere, another scene features residents of South Park being instructed to create “pro-Trump messaging” after having settled a lawsuit with the president. (A biting nod, it seems, to Paramount’s settlement with Trump.)
In it, a deepfake AI version of Trump slowly takes off all of his clothes while he treks through a scorching desert, ultimately exposing himself by the end of the segment. A voice-over narrates the clip: “Who walked through the desert for you? Who survived the wilderness and gave the ultimate sacrifice? Donald J. Trump. No matter how hot it gets, he’s not afraid to fight for America.”
“That is a message of hope,” Colbert said of the PSA. “That is an important message of hope for our times, and you can check it out right here.” The late night host then put a link, HeTrumpedUs.com. on screen, which leads to the full PSA segment.
Sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.
Colbert has continued to pull no punches when it comes to his eviscerations of Trump, who most recently took to social media to celebrate the cancellation of Colbert’s late night show. CBS announced the cancellation of its storied Late Show franchise as a whole last week, calling it a “purely financial decision.” But those like Elizabeth Warren have questioned the timing of Colbert’s exit from the network in the wake of parent company Paramount’s settlement with Trump over a Kamala Harris 60 Minutes segment.
“I absolutely love that Colbert got fired,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “His talent was even less than his ratings.” Colbert, meanwhile, hit back with his own succinct response: “Go f— yourself.”
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
